Category Archives: Russian Disasterpeace

My hands shake. I’ve wandered aimlessly. Entering a building built into the side of a hill, I find out its filled with the walking corpses of other STALKERs. Still half sentient, they fire off at me. I return their gestures.

Five dead. Or redead perhaps. I bandage the collection of holes the shotguns have put in me. I’ve survived. Again. I continue on. A derelict building is on my way to the next crash site. Possibly the remains of a school. There is an incline that cuts into the earth. Man made. I’ve heard rumors that some STALKERs have gone missing there.

Like this:

My clothes have worn down, my weapons need replacing. I’ve managed to hoard twenty or so grenades by picking them off the dead. I don’t think this rifle will hold out for me much longer. I’ve been wandering along this hillside, trying to find a way to the helicopter crash site; no luck. I do find a condemned building, some kind of dam control maybe.

Footsteps. A platoon of men. Bandits, I think. Eight, ten, maybe. A deal is going on. There are weapons. Motivation enough.

I creep out of sight, near the foot of the small hill. My gun is warm in the sunset.
Gunfire.

Like this:

It is a harsh place where a single bullets can see you bleed to death. Radioactive vehicles litter the corpse of what was once an industrious city, unpredictable creatures demand a keen eye. There are many anomalies: near invisible.
Take a swig of vodka to calm your irradiated nerves.

Welcome to the world of STALKER.
—–

It’s a strange world for sure. An oppressive atmosphere hangs over you at all times. Packs of mutant dogs fight off in the distance, bandits roam in search of powerful and enigmatic artifacts created by the many anomalies.
My first foray into the Zone was a strange one. At the time I had yet to become the obsessive reader and critic I am now. STALKER was a game that was beyond my reach: I didn’t have a high end PC, so I had never bothered to read any PC new sources. I’d only hear whispers of this strange game, emerging from development hell to become a cult classic.

Then one day, I finally had a laptop capable of gaming. My exposure to various outlets increased. Rock, Paper, Shotgun (which had up to then only been a resource for wonderful indie games) began to creep more and more into my life. My interest grew.

I finally procured a copy of the original for a mere 3 USD, from a local Half-Priced Books store. As recommended I installed the strangely hefty STALKER Complete mod.